


Beneficial Exchange

by Mask



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Action, Blood, Bloodlust, Childhood, Childhood Memories, Fighting, Heavy on the Imagery, Minor Original Character(s), Poverty, Survival Training, Training, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-23
Updated: 2015-10-23
Packaged: 2018-04-27 17:18:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5057143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mask/pseuds/Mask
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Even when Hisoka was young, he always wanted a good fight. Being born in Meteor City made you tough, made you antsy, but he managed to find someone who was worth his time. He found the first opponent he wanted to find the most.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Beneficial Exchange

**Author's Note:**

> "Free-for-all" style for [smuttyhiki](http://smuttyhiki.tumblr.com) on tumblr.

          “Why are you doing this?” Hisoka asked. He was a bit breathless, but he wasn't at all displeased with his situation. He reached up to wipe the blood off his mouth with the back of his hand.

          “Kid, you killed all of my men within half an hour all for two day old bread and molded cheese.” The bandit laughed and motioned a hand towards still drying blood spots on the floor. “You owe me somethin'. An' if you want food an' a fight you've been lookin' for, then yer gonna stick with me.”

          “What if I wanna fight you?” Hisoka smiled with a split lip. The blood had long since dried from there. Now, it was just falling from his nose sluggishly.

          “I can teach you, but I ain't worth yer time.” The bandit shook their head. “But if this fight is anything to go by, you don't stand a chance against me.”

Hisoka flicked his eyes to the ground and tapped his teeth together. Haunting yellow eyes came up to meet the bandit's again, and Hisoka crossed his arms.

          “What's your name, Stranger?”

          “Maddien.”

          “Well, 'Maddien', it looks like I'm in your service.”

          “For now,” the bandit replied, dropping their arms and turning on their heel.

Hisoka gave a lopsided smirk and followed after. They had only met two hours ago, and yet Maddien knew him very well.

He was delighted to have their partnership. From the day they met, Maddien was welcoming to Hisoka's eccentrics and halfheartedly played off the young man's style with ease. They never fully enabled him, but they always laughed at his quips to the other bandits. Hisoka felt strange around them. “At home” was a phrase that he wasn't familiar with using. He rolled it on his tongue like old candy and found he was alright with the taste. He knew that days turned to weeks but wasn't arsed to define the time. It was all just _days_ to him and sometimes nights proved to be important. Overall, he was satisfied training, fighting, and scavenging. It was more than just _doing_ something. He soon found. He didn't care for the appeal of community. Maddien had offered him something, and he had taken it. So he enjoyed his days, his weeks, and soon his months with languid pleasure.

Things went exactly as Maddien had outlined. On his first day, Hisoka was introduced to the ragtag coalition of bandits that had survived or overall escaped his one man raid. They all had typical rapscallion names, and he hardly figured he would remember any one of them. Unless they worked together – unless they were strong – Hisoka wasn't truly interested in making any new acquaintances. Whenever Maddien sent their bandits off to the various corners of Meteor City, Hisoka stuck behind to train. Every now and again, he was sent off to test his skills and always came back happier.

Sometimes, he went off script during his missions. He always found ways to entertain himself while still doing what was required of him. One of Maddien's had been caught in a Bungee Gum trap while Hisoka took care of the real footwork. He playfully teased them when the bandit glared at him acidly. “Ah-! How unfortunate! That was a trap meant for those people there, honestly.” “A pure accident, really.” The excuses were candy coated lies, and they both knew it. The bandit was released and gave an empty 'thanks' in return. Hisoka always smiled and replied with a very pleased “You're welcome~”

It was no surprise when Hisoka became greedy. He became selfish in the most jovial and charming of ways. While the other bandits were willing to fight him, they were put off by his smile and the singsong in his voice. Maddien and another bandit named Sharlie, however, were not easily won over by his act. Hisoka liked _them_. They weren't easily sold to the song and dace he constantly put on. Hisoka wanted to disobey them the most.

When he realised that want, Hisoka found that he wanted to chase that urge. He wanted to disobey, but he wanted to be blatant about it. There were dozens of opportunities, but none of them felt _right_ . It would be such a waste to squander his point with every petty attempt. He didn't want to be perceived as a boy throwing a fit, no no. He wanted to be seen as a young adult trying to make a statement. What that statement was he was currently trying to figure out. He mulled over his plan for a few days during missions, while training, while eating. Sometimes he would meet eyes with Sharlie over a meal and watch as her jaw rolled slower with each thoughtful chew. He wanted to fight her. He wanted to punch the food right down her throat just to watch her choke. Or maybe he would knock the food from her mouth and let her lament a wasted meal – then make her eat it from the stained floor. He smiled at her every time those thoughts came to his mind. She didn't acknowledge him. Her eyes went back to her meal with a roll of her shoulders. He wanted to fight her _bad_.

Hisoka finally found his attempt to disobey, to be rebellious, to essentially go off the cuff when he was training with Maddien. Of course it would be with them. He would have laughed at the set up if he didn't enjoy it too much. He had come back from an intense scavenge that had taken most of the day to complete. He went to the pit of the city with Keif and Jiles. It was risky and unpleasantly humid, but Hisoka figured that it was a good place to get something decent. He wasn't completely wrong. They managed to find some diamonds in the rough before they left, and of course, the three of them were predictably jumped by a large group of people. The assailants ranged from the angry and desperate to the arrogant, armed, and dangerous. Hisoka found no pleasure in fighting the desperate beggars. He left the others to knock them out. He took on the armed fighters with a slight sense of relish. Only _slightly_. They were better than the desperate paupers but not by very much.

Once he returned back to camp (he still wasn't comfortable calling it 'home'), Maddien pulled him aside to talk, to test him, and to ask about how the search went. They entered the square of fences and barricades, and Hisoka stared at the gnarled, dying tree at the center. He talked while he warmed up. He stretched his body nonchalantly, jumping to the toes of his worn flats before rocking back onto his rough heels. The young male smiled as he remembered one of the armed souls being thrown down into the pit, and he held the expression as Maddien stared at him impassively. They were trying to get a read on him, trying to understand on what level he truly enjoyed plummeting someone to their death. He was unreadable. He could tell from the slight squint in their left eye. They couldn't find an answer, and his lips tugged wider. The smile spread across his face in a pleased grin; his eyes squinted with the motion. Maddien looked away and rolled up their sleeves before beckoning him.

Hisoka ran closer, quickly closing the gap between them. Before he could even so much as bat an eyelash, Maddien rebounded him. Their left foot and left hand were jutted towards him. They had moved about five, six inches in the span of a second, but the force of their punch sent Hisoka flying. He touched his right foot to the ground and pushed forward, counteracting his backwards slid. The front aerial was by no means clean, but he managed to keep from losing his balance completely. Maddien hadn't moved the slightest bit. Hisoka grinned and took a step forward for his next attack.

 

“Is there a special occasion?” Hisoka asked, rushing forward towards his still mentor. Maddien's change in position was instantaneous. Once he was within range, he felt a warm density pass through his body. His skin broke out in goosebumps seconds before Maddien's fist connected with his stomach. The teenager felt blood and vomit rising up his body quickly, and he wasn't sure which of the two would come out first. When he landed in almost the same spot as before, he turned his head and spit. It was a sick combination of the two. He couldn't be happier. Hisoka giggled and brought his hands up, splaying his fingers.

         “I'm letting you go, Hisoka.”

         The teenager blinked. “Hm? What?”

         “We've found a caravan,” Maddien stated, standing up slowly. “Old, beat up – just like the rest of us. We're getting out of here. You're welcome to come with, but once we hit town, I'm letting you go free with all the knowledge I promised you.”

         Hisoka shifted his weight and dropped his hands to his hips. “You'd do that for me?”

         “Deal's a deal. More than that, I know you'll be fine out there without my connections.”

The fact that Maddien had knowledge of the outside brought so many questions. What did they know? Who had they talked to? He doubted they had been outside of Meteor City before, but he humoured it – what had they seen? He almost laughed as his thoughts lingered on why they would have come back. Maybe they liked the trials. Maybe it was for the others. Whatever the reason, Hisoka found that it was too sentimental for his heart and immediately pushed it out.

         “What if I want to stay here?” Hisoka smiled wide with closed lips. He turned his head to the right then the left. “I think I've grown rather fond of the musk.”

         “'S fine by me–”

 _Of course it is,_ Hisoka thought to himself, eyes cutting back to his mentor.

         “– but I'm giving you a parting gift either way. I want to make sure you're the boy I brought you to be.”

         “And Sharlie?” The question formed with a bit too much enthusiasm for Hisoka's tastes. It was too late to take it back now. He faced Maddien, who smiled coolly at him.

         “Busy.”

         “Drats.” Hisoka flicked his hands and brought them behind his head.

The moment his fingers clasped behind his head was when Maddien decided to attack him. It was a good plan: distract him with talks of the outside and make sure he was still vigilante. Of course he was. Hisoka wasn't one to disappoint. He twisted to the left with an oversplit and jumped up into the air with a kick of his left foot. He was pulled up by the bungee gum he attached to the ragged branches and grinned when Maddien laughed for the first time since the fight began. He took a moment to descend. Just as he was halfway down, he felt the wave of power just off to his left.

He cut the Bungee Gum, falling like a puppet without strings. The nen silhouette reached out for him, lashing out with exaggerated nails. The bark of the tree took the damage, and Hisoka used that moment to attack. He pushed up onto his hand, kicking up with his right then left foot against the projection's jaw. He heard Maddien grunt as he came to his feet and instantly focused on the new projectiles coming for him. He took a couple of steps towards them before jumping into the air once again. He twisted between the two vertically aligned blades of aura, and once his left foot touched the ground, Hisoka flicked out his finger towards his mentor's chin.

Hisoka grinned as he grabbed the Bungee Gum cord between both hands and flipped backwards. His right knee touched the ground, and his left foot pressed flat against it. He tugged down with both hands and slammed poor Maddien into the cracked earth. There was a moment of silence. Hisoka was waiting for them to make a move. His mentor only laughed (typically enough). He curled his fingers and let the Bungee Gum go. Maddien placed their hands on the floor and sat up, blood dripping from their face.

         “We leave in the morning,” Maddien stated. “We won't have time for any parting goodbyes or breakfast, but we'll eat on the way.” They reached up to touch their nose. “It'll be dangerous. Ah, you really got me.”

         Hisoka grinned at the somewhat, not really compliment. “Ah! Sounds like it'll be fun. I–”

He noticed the look too late. His eyes met Maddien's, and he couldn't react in the seconds it took for them to launch him into the air. The aura pulsed hot at his feet seconds before it went off. It coursed through the ground and exploded him upwards, knocking him head first into the tree branch. It was a three-for-one deal. One, Hisoka hit his head hard enough to disorientate him. Considering the lack of food in his stomach since his going and coming back, it was enough to make him weak. He dropped to the floor. Two, the branch fell on his head almost immediately after, doubling the effects it already had on him. Three, it knocked him out after a few woozy moments of delirium. He saw Maddien come closer and felt their arms lift him up.

         “Good night, Hisoka. I'll see you in…” Their words drifted off.

         “Good night,” he replied – or at least he thought he did.

His voice was weaker than he intended it to be. He felt his jaw moving, but his tongue was heavy, weighed down by a coppery flavour. He smiled, glad to have been outdone with such underhandedness. If they were truly to separate, he was alright with this parting gift, but he promised to find them again. He would have something new to teach them, his own gift to give in return.

 


End file.
